Coronavirus adversely affected Volvo sales

The effects of the pandemic are clearly visible in Volvo’s quarterly results.

While Tesla showed record results for the first quarter, Volvo sold 131,889 cars in the first three months of 2020, which is 18.2% less than the same period last year. The company blames the notorious virus for this sad result, and given the total collapse of the global economy, this seems to be the only logical explanation. For the first quarter of 2020, the Chinese unit recorded the largest decline of 30.5%, the European – 18.5%, in the USA – 11.7%.

The fall was greatest in March, when Volvo sold 46,435 cars, which is 31.2% less than a year ago. The largest losses occurred in the United States, where March sales fell 42.7%. European sales fell by 35%, while in China there was a decrease of 16.2%. Celestial sales results are slightly better mainly due to the recovery from the epidemic.

Amid all the bad news, the XC60 hit the top again as the best-selling model. Anyone who still doubts the popularity of SUVs should understand the following: the XC40 and XC90 took second and third places respectively. Together, the three models make up a whopping 67.9% of Volvo’s total sales. This means a significant increase, because the share of SUVs is now at 60.3% compared to last year. 14.7% of Volvo sold worldwide have a Recharge prefix, which conceals hybrids and electric cars of the brand.